Saigo Nanshu Memorial Museum （西郷南洲記念館）

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Okinoerabu is well known for being the island where historical figure Saigo Takamori (also known as Saigo Nanshu) spent 18 months in exile. A Kagoshima man, Saigo played a central role in bringing Japan's over-700-year-long samurai period to an end and modernizing Japan. Locked away in a cell, Saigo was at one point prepared to give up his life, but his interactions with the kind-hearted locals reinvigorated him, helping him to develop an even greater depth of character and become one of the great figures of Japanese history. The museum features a replica of the jail cell, as well as a statue of an emaciated Saigo, and illustrates how he lived at the time.